Vox: The agency that enforces our campaign finance laws doesn’t do its job. And many people like it that way. (In the News)

The FEC has had a troubled history. In its early years, commissioners were often ineffectual veterans appointed over and over. Increasingly, its Republican commissioners have been hostile to the FEC’s very mission. In 2000, congressional Republicans pressured Bill Clinton to accept law professor Bradley Smith, whose views were summarized by the title of his book: Unfree Speech: The Folly of Campaign Finance Reform. (Smith, however, was willing to apply the law as a commissioner). But the commission functioned at a reasonable level.